U.S. Pat. No. 4,299,148 issued in 1981 to Meier shows the method of cutting a food item in which a sheet of wax paper is folded about the cutting edge of a guillotine blade before the blade is forced into the food item. The sheet of wax paper then remains as a separator.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,823 issued in 1992 to Hartman et al shows a complex machine for introducing foil-like material between slices of a food product that has, apparently, already been cut by a cutting machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,565,053 issued Jan. 21, 1986 to Browne and Hertzberg discloses an apparatus for cutting round pastries, such as cake, and then after cutting inserting a divider between each two adjacent portions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,728 issued in 1999 to Giamello shows an apparatus for cutting food products in which a cutting blade energized with ultrasonic vibrations is driven through different layers of a food product at a controlled and variable speed.
A method and apparatus for cutting a food item into separate portions and inserting dividers between adjacent portions, in which a cutting blade is ultrasonically energized during a first cutting movement, the blade is withdrawn while a divider sheet is inserted between the blade and the food item, and then the blade is driven in a second movement to fold the divider sheet and to insert the thus-folded divider sheet into the cut between the two now separate portions of the food item.
According to the preferred form of the invention the blade is ultrasonically energized during at least the latter part of the second blade movement so as to effectively disengage the blade from the divider sheet.
A particular feature of the invention is a camming mechanism which allows unobstructed movement of the blade during its cutting action but also provides precise support for and folding of the divider sheet between the first and second movements of the blade.